Evolution and the Environment Discussion: Sept. 18, 2008

The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment

featuring

Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University

Thursday, September 18, 2008
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Reception to follow
6th Floor Flom Auditorium
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Webcast live at www.wilsoncenter.org

Please RSVP to ecsp@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.

For the past four decades, Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University, has stirred debate over the connections between population, environment, and development. In his new book, The Dominant Animal, co-authored by Anne Ehrlich, he traces the interplay between environmental change and genetic and cultural evolution, describing how human beings have developed vibrant cultures and vast scientific knowledge, but at the same time have cleared forests, changed Earth's climate, and perhaps undermined their own supremacy. The Dominant Animal argues that the key to adapting to our new reality may be learning from our evolutionary past.

Paul Ehrlich is Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University and a Beijer Fellow. An expert in the fields of evolution, ecology, and human biology, Ehrlich has devoted his career to the study of such topics as the dynamics of insect populations, the coevolution of plants and herbivores, and human cultural evolution. Ehrlich has written more than 900 scientific papers and popular articles and more than 40 books, including The Population Bomb, The Process of Evolution, The Science of Ecology, and Human Natures.

Copies of The Dominant Animal, an Island Press book, will be available for purchase at the event.

If you are interested, but unable to attend the event, please tune into the live or archived webcast at www.wilsoncenter.org. The webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time. You will need Windows Media Player to watch the webcast. To download the free player, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.

Location: Woodrow Wilson Center at the Ronald Reagan Building: 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW ("Federal Triangle" stop on Blue/Orange Line), 6th Floor Flom Auditorium. A map to the Center is available at www.wilsoncenter.org/directions. Note: Photo identification is required to enter the building. Please allow additional time to pass through security.